02. September 2019

Just three Swiss players found their way to the Austrian Classic. One of the older tournaments in the Racketlon history made a big change to their schedule. Cutting it down to a two day event, it was a grueling schedule for the players who played three categories.

Cyril Hohl again won the men B doubles, this time with his French partner Anthony Duthuillé. Winnig this category twice within four weeks, it might be time to go for higher honors and start competing in the elite class.

Not being tempted to go out the night before the tournament, Oliver Bühler played a superb first round against the Croation Mikac. Blocking like a madman in the table tennis and delivering destruction on the badminton court paved the way to his victory. In the next round he tired Morten Jaksland to make it easier for other players after him.

The change in the schedule suited Benjamin Gränicher quite a bit. Having to play three singles matches in one day proved too much for all of his opponent. With Emanuel Schöpf, Arnaud Genin and Morten Jaksland (who twisted his foot in the semis), he beat three top ten opponents in a row to win his first title since 2016 and the first Super World Tour title. He could not even be stopped by the doping control before the finals. Finishing the last match just around midnight still left him enough strength to directly dominate the players party as well with excellent wingman Oliver Bühler.

Benjamin Gränicher

01. September 2019

From racketlon.net by Sam Barker:

Benjamin Graenicher beat both the defending champion and World No.1 on his way to lifting the SWT Austrian Open presented by GRAWE sidebyside Men’s A Singles title. The title in Austria is Graenicher’s first since the 2016 IWT Winners’ Events Turkish Open.

Men’s A: Seeds all Reach Semi-Finals

It was an action-packed day for all players with all singles finals taking place on Saturday. That meant that, in the Men’s A, all players would play three matches – from the quarter-final stage onwards.

The quarter-finals went very much to plan, with all four seeded players advancing to the semi-finals. Morten Jaksland, Rav Rykowski and Benjamin Graenicher all won before tennis, beating Oliver Buhler, Stephan Schmutzer and Emanuel Schopf before tennis.

Second seed Arnaud Genin was taken to tennis by Bernhard Pilsz but was able to get over the line with the five points he needed.

The semi-finals were both thrilling matches. Morten Jaksland and Rav Rykowski have a rich history, with two meetings in the last 12 months. Jaksland won their only meeting this year and was on hand to do it again today.

The Dane won the table-tennis 21-14 to lead into badminton as expected. Rykowski always wins the middle two sports. However, today Jaksland scored the most amount of points he’d ever done against Rykowski in both badminton and squash, getting 11 and 17. That left Rykowski needing 17 in tennis. That was always going to be a challenge and Jaksland strolled to a tennis win to book his spot in the final.

The second semi-final pitted No.4 seed Benjamin Graenicher against No.2 seed Arnaud Genin. Genin won the badminton 21-2 but Graenicher won the other three sports in a hugely impressive display. Graenicher took the table tennis 21-5 and followed that up with a 21-19 squash win. That left a full set of tennis to decide the winner. Graenicher showed his experience, battling to a 21-14 win to reach his first singles final since 2017.

(Benjamin Graenicher and Arnaud Génin)

Men’s A: Graenicher Back in the Winners Circle

Jaksland also had to play the Men’s Doubles final – which we’ll review later – before the Men’s A singles final. That left the World No.1 exhausted and slightly injured heading into the final.

Graenicher made the most of his opportunity, forcing the wounded World No.1 to move more than he would have liked. After taking the table tennis 21-10, the Swiss star followed it up with a brutal 23-21 badminton win. If Graenicher could keep Jaksland below 13 in the squash, he would win his first title in over three years.

Jaksland made a good start to the squash set but couldn’t sustain his level. His injury impacted him and Graenicher capitalised, winning 21-12 with a series of drop shots. That victory gave him a +22 lead and the title.

Having spent much of this season injured, this is a superb achievement for Graenicher and marks him as yet another contender with the World Championships looming.